Like a Rose
by Azalea Rose Turner
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, and Percy's missing, so of course, Annabeth misses him. One-shot.


**I decided to take a break from my other story, because ideas are running thin. I loved the idea of writing about Annabeth's feelings when Percy's gone, especially if it's Valentine's Day.**

 **Oh and, leave a review :)**

* * *

 _Ba-boom._ Unopened candies strewn across the floor.

 _Ba-boom._ A card, crumpled in a haze of bitterness.

 _Ba-boom_. A crushed rose. Petals wilting in the unforgivable tale of time and wear, stem twisted and thorns blunt with anguish.

Annabeth Chase sat on the edge of her bed, hollow and empty from the inside out.

She was not crying. No tears made their way from the corner of her dulled grey eyes down her gaunt cheeks. No, instead she was filled with a desolation so severe, so harsh and sharp, that she felt as if she were being chewed from the inside. This sorrow was beyond what even tears could convey.

Annabeth knew, however, that she could not just drop down and die, no matter how much she wished to every second of the day. _Especially_ today.

Because today was Valentine's Day.

Yes, for everyone else it was a day filled with laughter and love, squeals and shrieks, but for Annabeth, it was a reminder of whom she had lost, and whom she might never see again.

Missing, just gone like that! On their first Valentine's Day together as a couple! Annabeth's feelings switched abruptly from wallowing grief to hot, searing enmity.

"Go to Hades, Hera," Annabeth swore under her breath. "You're the goddess of family, aren't you? Well, Percy's my family! Bring him back!"

There was faint thunder heard in the distance. Rage ripped through her again. "Damn you, Hera!" Annabeth said bitterly, ignoring the thunder as it got louder. "I don't care if you smite me! Go ahead, blast me into smithereens! I — don't — _care!_ "

"Annabeth?" Malcolm's voice floated down to her bunk, and he sounded startled. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she replied in the same miserable monotone as she did everyday. "I'm fine."

The short silence after her words indicated that Malcolm didn't buy it. Then he said, "You sure?"

To this, Annabeth did not answer.

* * *

She got ready for school, all the while appalled and thinking, _I can't believe I still have to go to school while my boyfriend is missing…_

Chiron had thought it would be a good idea to send her to school, perhaps thinking it would take her mind off things. She had wanted to scream, _I don't want to take my mind off things! I want to be looking for Percy!_ But Chiron wasn't having any of it.

Only Piper had been nice enough to accompany Annabeth at school.

Annabeth adjusted her backpack straps and waited on the hill for Piper to come out.

She waited, and waited… Piper was still nowhere to be seen. After five impatient minutes, Annabeth set off to look for her.

She rounded the Aphrodite Cabin and then began jogging irritably toward the Big House.

As she got closer, she spotted Piper's choppy brown hair, and annoyance surged through her. She opened her mouth to yell.

"Pip — !" She stopped in mid-shout.

 _Oh._

She and Jason were wrapped tightly around each other, and it was clear to Annabeth what they were doing. Jason's back was to her, and Piper's arms were wrapped around to the back of his neck.

She was holding a single, bloodred rose.

An unexpected spike of melancholy, sharp and stinging, drove through her, all the way down to her toes.

Annabeth fled.

* * *

Piper spotted a flash of gold as it whipped away from behind Jason. Eyes widening and immediately guarded, she broke the kiss and stepped around her boyfriend.

"What is it, Pipes?" Jason asked, turning as well.

Piper didn't reply, merely gazed at the figure sprinting away as if her life depended on it. Annabeth. Her blonde curls bounced against her back, her neck bent and shoulders shaking. She stumbled a few times but continued to run.

"Ah, crap," Piper muttered. She faced Jason, gave him a hasty peck, and said, "Bye! I'm running late to school!" And dashed after her friend.

Piper found Annabeth sitting at the base of Thalia's pine tree with her knees hugged to her chest, gazing at nothing, her eyes unfocused and hazy.

Piper walked up to her; she gave no indication that she realized Piper was there. Piper knelt beside her friend and wrapped her arms around Annabeth's slim shoulders.

" _Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth_ ," Piper chanted. "Annabeth, I know you miss him, but —"

Annabeth's head whipped to face Piper and she mumbled, "Percy?"

Piper felt as if her chest was plunging into her stomach and she held back tears of her own as she saw her best friend act like this. But Piper dredged up a mask of determination and forced a note of cheerfulness in her voice. "Yes, Percy. Come on, Annabeth. Come on, now…"

She watched as Annabeth lifted her head and began stumbling clumsily down the hill.

Piper got in the car after Annabeth and shut the door with a snap.

"Annabeth? You okay?" she prodded gently.

Annabeth turned to her, not replying, but simply studied Piper with still intense grey eyes. She seemed to be saying, _Are you kidding me? It's Valentine's Day and the boy I love might be dead. How are you asking me that and not expecting me to punch you?_

* * *

"Bye, Annabeth. Take care," Piper softly bid her a goodbye. At school they weren't permitted to talk to each other, lest others suspect something was off about the pair. Chiron's orders, of course.

Annabeth watched Piper's retreating back, feeling rather detached. The pain wasn't numbing down, it was fresh. It was real, the only real thing. It was hot lava, licking her insides as it raged and rampaged, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Annabeth mustered up her courage, straightened her spine, and strolled into the school building as if she hadn't a care in the world.

She blinked, hard, as the colors assaulted her.

Pinks and reds swirled through the halls, with white interlaced. Streamers blushed a faint rose, ribbons like fresh falling blood floated, balloons of white and gold bobbed merrily near the ceilings.

It was sickening.

Squeals and giggles occasionally pierced the everyday hum of conversation, but Annabeth was spiraling deeper into the depths of depression.

"Hi, Annabeth!" one of her mortal friends called. Honestly, Annabeth didn't understand why they liked her. She was pretty down in the dumps most of the time, but she appreciated them. Annabeth _tried_ for them.

"Annabeeeeeeth!" Eliza called, grabbing Annabeth's arm. "Cheer up, for God's sake!"

Annabeth took a deep breath and tried to summon a smile. She felt slightly victorious.

But Eliza simply frowned and said, "Annabeth, that's not even a smile. It's more like a grimace. It's worse than last week, god."

Annabeth shrugged.

"So, candy," Eliza said conversationally, moving on as Amvlys and Syretia joined her (who preferred to be called Amy and Tia). "Got any yet?"

"Eh, not much," Amy admitted.

Tia shook her head. She was always soft-spoken and intelligent; Annabeth liked her a lot… or would have, if she weren't constantly worried over —

"I got a lot!" Eliza exclaimed jubilantly. "I don't know why, though."

"You're pretty, Eliza, that's why," Amy replied rather bluntly. The girls continued to talk while, unbeknownst to them, Annabeth daydreamed wistfully of adventures in the summertime, of a throw into a cold lake, of stolen midnight kisses and of blue chocolate cake…

She realized that her breathing was labored and her eyes damp.

"— of course I will, now — Annabeth? Annabeth?" Eliza prompted, waving her hand over Annabeth's face.

Annabeth growled and swatted her friend's hand away. "Stop it," she scowled.

"You need cheer up," Tia chided playfully. "It's Valentine's Day."

"Yes," Amy chimed, "maybe some candy will help!" She deftly plucked a candy from Eliza's large stash and held it out to Annabeth.

Annabeth stared at it as if it came from the school cafeteria.

"Umm… okay," Amy said slowly, retracting her hand.

"What's up with you, Annabeth?" Tia asked gently.

"Mhm," Amy agreed. "Normally you're moody, but not _this_ moody."

When Annabeth didn't answer, her gaze remaining far away and distant, Eliza said, "Annabeth, it's _Valentine's Day._ You might be depressed that you don't have a boyfriend but hey, we can find you one today!"

Suddenly they noticed how Annabeth's gaze sharpened and zeroed in on them, how her aura seemed to fold in upon itself shrink, how her anguished grey eyes narrowed slightly.

"What?" Annabeth said sharply, abruptly sounding more alive than ever. "I've already got a boyfriend!"

Amy laughed nervously. "Annabeth, you know that's not really true, boys aren't all that bad you know —" Her voice was quelled as Annabeth shot her a broken glare.

She inhaled deeply, trying to keep the tears at bay. No more crying. Concentrate on finding your Seaweed Brain so you can personally kill him.

 _Unless he's already dead._ Unbidden, the thought popped into her mind, and suddenly it was too much.

Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Hero of Olympus, burst into tears.

Her friends backed up, seemingly frightened. Annabeth had seemed broken since they'd met her, but she'd never actually _cried_. And this crying… it wasn't like anything they'd ever heard before. It was agony, it was heartache, it was pure, undiluted _misery_.

It was that, above all things, that nudged Annabeth to stop sobbing. It was how her friends retreated as if they were afraid. It made her angry, furious. Anger was a good antidote. It washed away her sorrow in a wave of red. It made her feel alive. It made her want to find Percy and kick Hera in her godly podex.

She glowered and muttered sardonically, "I'm fine. I'm going to the bathroom. Thanks for comforting. Thanks for _caring_."

She sauntered off, trying to at least maintain _some_ of her dignity. Amy and Eliza watched her go with some regret, but Tia called, "Annabeth, _wait_!"

She didn't.

Annabeth, shoulders shaking in an effort to stifle the sobs, turned into one of the dirty stalls and locked the door. She didn't bother to sit down, merely put her head in her hands and tried not to think — no — he was waiting — he was alright —

With trembling fingers, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled note, written in a hasty scrawl and left by her cabin the morning he had disappeared:

 _Love you. Be back soon._ _-Seaweed Brain_.

Annabeth traced her fingers over the words. _Love you. Love you. Love you._

She felt herself plummeting, deeper, deeper, and then —

" _Hey!" Percy grinned at her goofily, and Annabeth felt her heart lift._

 _She shoved his shoulder playfully. "Hey to you too, Seaweed Brain."_

" _Come on, Annabeth," Percy said excitedly, jumping up and down like a little kid. "I've got something to show you!"_

" _Mmm," Annabeth hummed rather skeptically. "Is it that rose you've got in your hand?"_

 _Percy looked down at it, as if surprised, and then started sheepishly, "Um… that's part of it, but… there's more!"_

 _Annabeth chuckled lightly. "Of course there's more." She threw her arms around Percy's neck_ — _not caring that they were in plain sight, though the darkness of the night_ did _help conceal them_ — _and kissed him, all the while resenting how he was taller than her, of course._

 _But then his tongue probed for entrance against her lips, and her brain, despite how intelligent and well-exercised it was, turned to mush._

" _Yeah!" someone whooped behind them. Their kiss was broken rather regretfully, and Annabeth poked her head over Percy's shoulder to scowl at the disturbance._

 _Connor. Of course. And Travis, and Katie, and Clarisse, along with Chris, Nico, Will, and Lou Ellen_ —

 _Percy, completely red-faced, forehead and all, was determinedly looking anywhere but their friends. Annabeth, however, had no such reservations and glowered openly at them. "I really hate you guys, you know that?"_

 _Everyone basically disregarded this, and Travis mused, "Oh, yeah, his tongue was_ definitely _down her throat."_

 _The spectators took great delight in this sentence, and Clarisse even deemed this worthy of a guffaw. Annabeth glared at them, saying, "Are you all ever going to let up? Give us some privacy, gods!"_

 _Katie stifled her giggles and said, "Maybe you shouldn't make out in public, then."_

 _Lou Ellen suddenly looked irritated. "Oh my gods, it's not like_ you two _are any better. Katie, you're_ always _making out with Travis in public!"_

 _Travis's ears turned pink. "Hey, but we don't complain when you guys comment! Clarisse is worse! She'll beat you up if you even_ look _at her making out with Chris."_

" _Which is not often!" Chris protested._

" _Yeah Lover Boy," Clarisse agreed gruffly, "You and Katie are absolutely_ disgusting _."_

" _I second that," Nico chimed._

 _When Clarisse started arguing about how Nico and Will made out_ plenty _often in plain sight, Annabeth took that as her and Percy's cue to leave. She tugged on his hand gently to signal that they were leaving, and discreetly they sidled past their friends._

 _Percy led her over to the dock. They swished their feet in the water for a bit, just enjoying each other's presence. And then Percy said:_

" _You know, when I first saw you, I thought you looked like a princess."_

 _Annabeth swatted his arm lightly. "I don't see how that's got any relevance."_

 _Percy turned to her, his smile seemingly too bright, too much in contrast to the dark night all around them. "Then I realized that princesses usually need to get saved. And that'd mean_ I'm _the princess."_

 _Annabeth laughed, pecking her boyfriend on his cheek._

" _I really love you, you know?" Percy said, suddenly serious. "I mean, you probably already know, you know everything, but I_ — _I just want to make sure… just in case_ — _just in case something… happens."_

 _Annabeth's breath caught. Her throat felt tight, constricted. "I know," she managed. "I love you too."_

 _It wasn't the first time they had said that to each other, but the two never just threw the word around. And this time, he sounded so solemn… so sad._

" _Whatever happens," Percy promised. "I'll always love you."_

 _And Annabeth felt stupid, because she felt the tears prick behind her eyes. She buried her face against Percy's chest, and he just held her…_

 _He pulled away. "Here," he said, pulling the rose carefully out of his pocket. "I forgot to give it to you earlier."_

 _He hugged her close and kissed her, short and sweet._

" _Goodnight," he whispered against her lips. "Love you."_

 _Then Annabeth was left to the night, wind biting against her cheek, that powerful promise ghosting over her lips, back and back and back again_ —

 _And a rose, a single rose. Delicate yet dangerous. Bleeding red. The petals ruffled in the wind, and she caught the scent of sea._

* * *

Annabeth gasped for air like a fish out of the water, and she realized that her shirt was soaked with tears. She didn't know when she started crying, but still the tears were running down her cheeks and —

Someone burst through the door of the bathroom and pounded on the stall door. Annabeth scowled. Who needed to go use _this_ stall so badly? There were other ones, gods —

The pounding lightened to a mere rap, but it was still incessant.

"Annabeth?" Piper's voice was soft.

Annabeth made a mewling sound, unlocking the door and stepping out. "P - Piper?"

"Yeah," Piper replied gently, as if talking to a skittish horse. "Annabeth, I'm right here."

"What if — what if he's dead?"

"Annabeth, Per — I mean, _he_ isn't dead."

"How would you know?" Annabeth was sobbing now. " _I_ don't know! Jason said that the other group was less sympathetic! What if he didn't survive? The quest? I'm such a horrible girlfriend! _He_ knew when I got taken that _I_ was alive and that was even before we were dating —"

Piper cupped Annabeth's face in her hands and leaned close, cutting Annabeth's rambling off abruptly. "Annabeth. Annabeth. He's not dead. You just have to believe that."

"I _can't_!" Annabeth nearly shouted. Piper just didn't _get_ it. She didn't want to get her hopes up, only to be disappointed, only to lose her only _love_ … no, _nobody_ understood, least of all these _mortals_ she was surrounded by —

She shouldn't be here, with these shallow mortals, with their silly ideas of what love was, what love wasn't. Love wasn't some namby-pamby romance comedy, it wasn't a candlelit dinner and walks by a river, lit by soft moonlight. It was your best friend, it was fights and scuffles and apologies and teasing and messiness — love was something you _just couldn't lose._

And Annabeth knew that better than anyone.

She walked past her friend, towards the door. "I'm leaving," Annabeth announced. "I can't _take_ it any longer, in this stupid school, wasting my time when I could be looking for — for _him_ —"

Piper scrambled to walk with Annabeth. "Yeah, of course. We'll tell Chiron, okay? We'll tell him. Yeah. Come on…"

They walked a few steps, Piper holding Annabeth's arm when she shook Piper's hand off and said, "I'm not _that_ delicate, you know… I think I can handle _walking_."

Piper grinned, happy that Annabeth was still there, if not barely. If not only for a little while more…

* * *

It wasn't hard to get back to Camp. They encountered no monsters, and the two didn't even have to argue about who was going to drive. Annabeth relinquished the wheel to Piper immediately, and although Piper technically wasn't legal, at camp they learned to drive early.

Chiron was quite surprised when the pair showed up at the borders, Piper looking rather frantic and Annabeth stony-faced. He cantered over.

"Was there a problem, Piper, Annabeth?"

"Um -" Piper began, but was cut off by Annabeth.

"There sure is!" Annabeth growled. "I'm _quitting_ school."

Chiron's tail swished behind him nervously and he looked to Piper for an explanation.

When she gave him a _tell-you-later_ sign, he motioned for Annabeth to go. "Annabeth, please, give us some privacy. I would like to talk to Piper in private."

As Piper explained how Annabeth had broken down in school, Annabeth wandered down to the valley. Her fierce outside demeanor was crumbling, the hard mask melting into her grief yet again.

She was rounding into Cabin Six, the Athena Cabin, but on a whim, she veered off to the right and found herself pushing open the door to Cabin Three.

Everything was the same, it was low, wide. The abalone walls shone as if no one had ever left, the saltwater spring gurgled cheerfully in the corner.

Clothes and papers were scattered across the floor, the air smelled of sea. Of him.

 _Percy…_

She collapsed on his messy, unmade bunk, pressing her palms against her eyes as if to drown out the memories.

* * *

 _Annabeth woke to the sound of wailing sirens._

 _No, not sirens_ — _the alarm._

The alarm?

 _The alarm hadn't been activated since the Luke led his forces to Camp Half-Blood using the Labyrinth_ — _what could merit the use of the alarm now?_

 _All around her, her cabinmates were grabbing their weapons and flying out the door. Annabeth felt a rising feeling up panic clogging her throat. Something had happened. Something_ big _. Something that had to do with_ —

" _Annabeth!" Malcolm was yelling. "Annabeth, get out here!"_

 _She realized she had been staring, wide-eyed in horror, at the wall. Annabeth snapped out of her reverie, snatching her dagger from the table and dashing out of the cabin._

 _She was standing on the porch, surveying everyone_ — _they all had on a strange mix of pajamas and armor. She wanted to laugh, but… all the campers were gathered around only one cabin._

 _Cabin Three._

 _No. No. No._

No!

 _Annabeth sprinted to Cabin Three in ten seconds flat. She pushed aside the onlookers, shoving her way to the front. Everyone was giving her such solemn looks, and it was too much to bear_ —

" _Chiron!" Annabeth shouted. "Chiron, what_ — _?"_

 _The centaur's eyes were like millennia old wells, deep and dark with ages of sorrow. "Child, we have much to discuss_ — _"_

"No!" _Annabeth cried, and she knew she looked deranged, but something,_ something _had happened to Percy. And that was simply unacceptable. "No, no, no! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO PERCY!"_

 _Chiron simply looked at the ground._

" _What?!" Annabeth yelled angrily. "Is he hurt? Injured? How badly? Solace, come here, you can heal him, of course you can, no, he has the Curse of Achilles, how was he hurt? I_ — _"_

" _Annabeth." Connor stepped up, looking chagrined, as if not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. "Annabeth… Percy's not…_ hurt _."_

 _Annabeth threw her hands up, panicking internally. "Well? Then?"_

" _He's… gone."_

 _There was dead silence, in which the sentence whizzed around Annabeth's brain, processing at least a hundred times in a second. And then_ —

" _What?" Her voice was deadly calm._

 _Connor took a step back. "I mean, we don't know, he_ — _uh, he's just, you know, not here_ — _he's gone, and we don't know where_ — _"_

" _What?!" Annabeth's voice was louder and sharper, grey eyes filled with stoic rage. "What do you mean by that?!"_

" _I_ — _I_ — _" Connor was so terrified, he melted back into the crowd._

" _No." Annabeth's voice sounded strange, even to herself. This was not happening. This was not happening_ —

 _She ripped past Chiron, past the door, into Percy's cabin. It was vacant, empty. And there was that malicious aura that didn't quite belong… hanging in the air…_

" _No!" Annabeth repeated, voice trembling, head spinning. "_ NO! _Percy… Percy… please…"_

 _That was as far as she got before she crumpled to the floor, wishing she could stay right there forever and ever, for all eternity._

* * *

Annabeth stood dizzily, grasping the edge of _his_ nightstand for balance, when her tear-damp eyes fell upon something on the table.

It was just a picture, not framed at all, just a picture.

It… it was _her_.

Annabeth and _him_. It was right after the war and they were lip-locked, a discarded blue cake between them. The photo fluttered against her fingers, and suddenly the wave of anguish came crashing back.

She gave a jagged, dry heave, having sobbed herself out. Once, twice… and then she was hugging one of his old shirts to her face, pressing herself against it as if it were her lifeline, as if it were _his_ lifeline. It smelled like him, a peculiar combination of sea salt and mint. Nostalgia washed over her in waves, and she was drowning.

"Percy…" she whispered, the raw misery filtering through each syllable. "Percy… come back — please!"

Everything hurt. With her strained vocal cords, it hurt to speak. And it hurt to think, it hurt, it hurt. It was too quiet here, too desolate, empty. The reminder echoed in the destitution of the room… that she was alone.

She gasped for air, she gasped for love. Annabeth choked on her sob once more, and it tore through her, unbearably rough. "Percy, please, Percy… _Percy…_ " her words reverberated, broken and torn, with no one to receive.

" _I_ — _love_ —"

She couldn't finish, lips tracing over the last word, that single word, the shadow of its being fading away along with the one she had lost.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


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